Time's top books of 2006 list
So many lists! In Time's "Person of the year: You" issue, there is a list of 15 people who had their 15 minutes of fame (including the now infamous James Frey, author of the part-non-fictional "A Million Little Pieces"), as well as, 10 best sports moments, 10 best music albums, 10 best TV shows, 10 best movies, and of course...
Time had to weigh in with their list of 10 best books of 2006. Not as literary as the NY Times and Washington Post lists, but these are presumably more popular reads ?!?! Here they are numbered as Time has named them:
1. Alison Bechdel, "Fun Home"
2. Lawrence Wright, "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11"
3. Cormac McCarthy, "The Road"
4. Bill Buford, "Heat"
5. Thomas E. Ricks, "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq"
6. Richard Ford, "The Lay of the Land"
7. Gary Shteyngart, "Absurdistan"
8. Hampton Sides, "Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West"
9. David Mitchell, "Black Swan Green"
10. Dave Eggers, "What is the What"
By my count, that's 4 non-fiction (including 1 memoir, 2 books on Al-Qaeda and Iraq, and 1 historical account of American History) and 6 fictional works. One female author, 9 male. This list has two books in common with SF Chronicle's list, 3 each in common with NY Times and the Washington Post. None made all four lists.
And who had the dubious honor of being selected Time's "Worst Book of 2006?" A.M. Homes' "This Book Will Save Your Life", says Time: "More densely packed with earnest twaddle - starting with the title - than any other [book] this year or maybe ever, this book won't save your life - unless your life is dangerously unexciting and you suffer from a chronic treacle deficiency." Ouch!